Deeplinks Blog posts about Video Games

In 1998, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued Patent 5,718,632, on a method for avoiding “unnecessary wastage of time” in video games. What’s transpired in the 17 years since then can best be described as an unnecessary wastage of time.

Namco’s patent covers “auxiliary games” that a player can enjoy while the main game is loading. The patent expired on November 27, which has generated a lot of excitement in the gaming world, and even inspired a Loading Screen Jam where developers create their own loading screen games.

Last month, EFF and I scored a major victory for video game archiving, preservation and play – we got an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act for some archival activities related to video games.

Before I throw a bunch of shade, I want to emphasize that the exemption is a victory for the video game archiving community. Although there were flaws in what the Library of Congress granted, more legal leeway in this space is a net positive.

EFF will go to bat for users' rights at this month's hearings on exemptions to Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Section 1201's overreaching restriction on circumventing "access control" or "digital rights management" (DRM) technologies comes in direct conflict with lawful activities like conducting security research, repairing cars, and resuscitating old video games. For that reason, Congress included a provision allowing the public to petition the Copyright Office and Librarian of Congress for exemptions to the 1201 clause. It is a long, complex process that happens every three years with no guarantee that previous exemptions will stand, so EFF is back on the ground to advocate for several important issues.

In past years, EFF successfully petitioned for the right to jailbreak your phone and use DVD video for fair use remixes. In the 2015 petitions, we are working to uphold these uses and more. Here is what we are focusing on:

The Entertainment Software Association doesn’t want anyone to restore the functionality of older videogames that are no longer supported by their publisher, because, says ESA, this is “hacking,” and all hacking is “associated with piracy.”

When you buy a video game, you expect to be able to play it for as long as you want. You expect be able to play it with your kids many years from now if you want (well, maybe not Grand Theft Auto). And you would hope that museums and media historians could preserve the games that were so important to your childhood. But unfortunately, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s anti-circumvention provisions (17 U.S.C. § 1201, or Section 1201) creates legal risks for players who want to keep playing after game servers shut down, and curators who want to preserve games for posterity. That’s why I’m spearheading an effort to win legal protection for game enthusiasts and preservationists who want to keep abandoned games alive by running multiplayer servers or eliminating authentication mechanisms.